Sir Elton John is reportedly working on a stage adaptation of Animal Farm, teaming up with the writer of Billy Elliot, for a musical version of George Orwell's classic novel.

"I'm deep into it, writing songs for pigs and other four-legged friends," Lee Hall told the Daily Mail. "I know that Elton likes to have the lyrics done and have them in front of him so [I] work on a batch before I give him anything to look at."

Hall and John have been working on the project for about two years, negotiating publishing rights for Orwell's 1945 book. "We almost gave up," he said. "There was always that one last licence to go after." The pair will begin working intensively this autumn, although it will still take "about two years before it's all ready to go".

Hall wrote the screenplay for 2000's Billy Elliot film, but John's 2005 musical version has arguably become more famous. Triumphing in the West End and on Broadway, it has amassed a display case full of awards. John's other musicals include the Lion King, Aida, and an ill-fated show based on Anne Rice's vampire novels.

Animal Farm, ostensibly the tale of farm animals' revolt against their human masters, is an allegorical account of the Soviet Union's passage into Stalinism. Although an earlier stage musical was adapted by Peter Hall, it lacks Elton John's piano-man panache. After all, what will the man who brought us Hakuna Matata do with communism?